Nicole “Nikki” Telthorst, 37, grew up in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. She loved living in the country near the scenic lake.

“We lived six miles down a gravel road,” she says. “I grew up loving animals, and I still have such a passion for them.”

She married Brian Telthorst, her high school sweetheart, and they moved to Plano, where they raised two sons who are now 18 and 19.

Telthorst has always loved being a stay-at-home mom, doing all of the things that make a home work — like sewing.

That, plus her passion for animals, helped her stitch up a booming online business. She makes custom dog collars and leashes in trendy and classic fabrics. All the work is done in her converted dining room.

“I love working in the heart of the home and around everyone in the family coming and going,” she says.

The Telthorst household includes five dogs and three cats — all are rescue stories and all wear stylish collars.

“We’ve rescued a total of 11 pets since we married, and eight of them we still have,” she says.

The business is named Coley’s Collars, after a terrier mix the couple adopted soon after they were married.

Coley — the name comes from Telthorst’s full name, Nicole — was like their first child, Telthorst says.

Coley, the 18-pound “sweet and sassy” family pet, lived to be 15 years old and ruled the Telthorst roost until she died in 2008. Telthorst still gets emotional as she talks about Coley.

About six years ago, Telthorst got the notion to make Coley and some of the other pets festive holiday collars.

“I couldn’t find anything cute for the big dogs out there,” she says. “I thought, well, maybe I could make something, and so I went to the craft store and that’s how it all began.”

She sifted through products until she came up with some makeshift supplies. Telthorst went back to her sewing table and cranked out a few collars using backpack fasteners. They turned out well, and friends started asking for custom collars for their dogs.

She made more for friends and also for rescue dogs looking for new homes. She upgraded the materials and hardware, and Coley’s Collars was born.

Telthorst and her husband set up a website to sell collars for cats and dogs. Worldwide orders started coming in, including numerous orders from Dubai.

“To think that cats are running around in Dubai and wearing the collars that I, a stay-at-home mom here in Plano, make is amazing to me,” she says.

Her top seller is the medium, 1-inch collar, which she says usually fits a Lab. She sells those in a large array of fabrics, from black gingham to abstract contemporary patterns.

“Not everyone wants to put a tutu on their dog, but they often want something personalized without overdoing it. You know, you can express a dog’s or cat’s personality through their collars and leashes, and so I try to make a lot of options for people out there to find one that’s just right,” she says.

The morning I spoke with Telthorst, she had just finished 26 collars and three leashes, part of a large wholesale order from Japan.

She’s particular about textiles and likes to use designer fabrics by Michael Miller, Amy Butler and Riley Blake.

She also looks for unusual patterns online and locally, and accepts customers’ fabrics for custom orders. All of the fabrics are in limited supply, and her designs are always changing.

“Anything with the chevron design is really big right now,” she says.

One customer just designed a baby nursery and sent Telthorst matching fabric to make a beloved dog a collar to coordinate with the first human baby in the household.

She also makes collars for customers who want their dogs in their weddings.

“Every single collar someone has specifically chosen for their pet, but I really try to make them as though I am making them for my pets — with the same quality, love and care,” she says.

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